Double Figures

Op Shop Road Trip Number Ten started earlier in the year (as it originally used to) because I am going away for several months in August. We managed to squeeze in a window of opportunity between everyone's commitments, and Jo started madly organising. 

The girls arrived at morning tea time on Monday, 17th April, and within 30 minutes, tea/coffee was consumed and my stuff joined theirs in the car. Our trip to Toowoomba was uneventful, except for a loony who roared past us at high speed in the Legacy Way Tunnel, and some road-rage action on the Ipswich motorway. We fuelled up at the cheapie in Hatton Vale and headed for op shop number one.

It turned out to actually be a consignment shop, full of lots of brand-name gear.  My budget only allowed for a pair of silver earrings, which cost $2.40, because everything in the shop was 20% off; but Jo picked up a beautiful pair of Veronika Maine pants - which were a perfect fit - for $18.

The Red Cross was next, situated in an old garage. Despite the fact that we had "done" Toowoomba before, we had never made it to that one.  There are quite a few we had never made it to, considering that Lifeline alone has eleven shops in the greater Toowoomba area!

The thing that sets this shop apart is that all the hangers are identical, simple steel ones that don't overcrowd the racks.  And on those hangers I found two tops, but am not sure if I will ever wear one of them. I thought the prices were a little high, but then that is a sign of the times.

Nearby is the Spotted Cow Hotel, and we popped in there for a quick but filling lunch.  It has a lovely mosaic beside the door.

The big Lifeline next door we had visited twice before, but it is a shop that we all love, with an excellent selection of books on the mezzanine.  I found Janet Evanovich book number 14 there.  Unfortunately, when I unpacked it later, the synopsis seemed familiar and I realised that it was actually number 15 that I was up to.  I had left that on the bookshelf.

However, I also bought two small, light cutting boards for the caravan, a retro hanger, two postcards and my entry in the Quirky Book Title competition, plus a pair of pants.  Buying clothes was difficult, because our dress theme for the next day involved each of us choosing an outfit for one of the others, and we were also looking for clothes for ourselves, in a limited time frame.

Another favourite, Orphans and Widows in Russell Street, was our final (and only our fourth) shop for the day.  I had no luck there at all clothes-wise, but did find a couple of items for my Op Shop Bingo Card.  One item on the card was a Little Golden Book, and they kindly had a whole section of them, clearly marked.  They nearly had to throw us out at closing time.

Our home for the next two nights was a Airbnb house. We found the street, but Jo didn't know the street number . However, the owner referred to the house as "Lavender" (actually, she misspelt it "Lavendar"), so we tried the little brick house with lots of lavender growing out front, and it turned out to be the right place.  The owner thoughtfully provided us with a bottle of merlot!